We left Haarlem on a very wet & miserable morning on
3rd July to begin our journey to France. Before we left we were visited by
Marieke the daughter of the previous owner with her partner & son.They very much approved the work we
had done to Delfini over the past two years and liked the fact that we had
retained her previous charachter .
There was a lot
of chaos as we left Haarlem . Firstly it appared as if everyone else decided to
leave t the same time as us and then to compound things we were held between
two of the bridges through the city to allow a commercial barge to pass. After
all of this we travelled on the Ringvart Van deHarlemmer-meerpolder (which
circles Schiphol Airport ) to the Kagerplassen where we tied up in a quiet
rural mooring on Kaag island. However by next day about another thirty boats
had the same idea.However it was a pleasant stay .
On 5th we left Kaag and travelled to Gouda via the Brassemer meer , Woud Wetering , Oude Rijn
and Gowe kanal to Gouda (famous for its cheese). We found mooring in the
Turfsingle and stayed for two days. We explored Gouda and while the cheese
aspect was of interest it was the Historic Ships harbour with all its old
working barges and tugs that excited us most.
Sunday 7th July
saw us locking out of Gouda through a lock with guillotene gates rather than
the conventional ones. We were then on the tidal (yes tidal even this far
inland !!!) Hollandse Ijssel . However
shortly afterwards we locked up to the non tidal section and began our journey
on a narrow twisting rural river which is very beatiful if a bit overcrowded
with pleasure craft. We had planned to stop at Ouderwater but had to continue
on to Isselstein to get an overnight place to stop. It was a difficult day as
we were the biggest vessel on the river that day and small pleasure boats
swarmed around like flies. However it was worth the hassle.
Early next morning we left Isselstein and travelled
through Niewwegan which is in fact a sattelite of Utrecht .The scenery was
appropriate – large office blocks ,factories and apartment blocks. We entered
the Merweedkanal and again had a wide waterway .We had planned to visit
Gorinchem before going on to the Waal. Six years ago we had visited the place
when we were buying our last barge Johanna and liked it .However we judged by
the volume of cruisers ahead of us that mooring would be difficult so we turned
onto the Linge river at Arkel (near where we had purchased Johanna) and found a
peaceful riverside mooring where we stayed for a couple of days.
We left our mooring spot to travel on to the Waal (the
Rhine in Germany) early on the 10th July. What a shock we got when we entered
the lock at Gorinchem. It was enormous !!!. Then the Waal !!! It is a huge
river. Immediately we entered it the flow was evident and it was necessary to
increase the engine revs to keep up a bit of speed. The size of the ships and
the volume of commercial traffic dwafed all the cruisers . And then of course
there was the powerboat that passed everything throwing up a wash that could
capsize a reasonably sized cruiser.In fact I was able to see the complete bottom
of one ahead of us including the propellor. I guess some glass got broken on
that boat that day.However nothing moved on Delfini .
We travelled from the Waal to the Afgedane Maas and then
on to the Bergse Maas and from there to Den Bosch and on to the
Zuid-Willeimsvart where we are presently moored at the first lock .This canal
will take us on to Wessem- Nederweert Kanal to Massbrack and after that the
Maas to Belgium .
